Black Hats are the New Style at J.C. Penney

Just about a year ago, J.C. Penney - your "go to" retailer for tube socks and long underwear - hit the red carpet hard at the Academy Awards.  They weren't outfitting celebs in killer gowns and tuxes, but instead running six :30 second commercials highlighting Penney’s new focus on Fashion. 

New look.  New day.  Who knew?  Apparently, everyone who Googled anything related to fashion (and more) during the 2010 holiday shopping season.

Using what Google refers to as “black hat” tactics, J.C. Penney (or an agency on its payroll) was able to cook the books of search results – insuring that J.C. Penney was number 1 on lists for a variety of searches ranging from “skinny jeans” to “tablecloths.”

The top spot is, of course, the most coveted real estate in Googleville, with about 35% of searchers clicking into the first record, which is just about equivalent to the numbers clicking into the second, third AND fourth records COMBINED.  Despite J.C. Penney's attempt to downplay, this has big implications on the bottom line.  

So how’d they do it?  What was the “black hat” tactic anyway? 

One aspect of the algorithm Google uses to rank results considers the number of sites that link to your webpage.  The idea is that sites will want to link to the “best” content to keep consumers happy, so the more sites that link to your site, the better.  It shows that your site is considered “the best” in terms of delivering some sort of informational or consumer satisfaction.

Seems plausible, but, the temptation for collusion – the quid pro quo of “I’ll link to you, if you link to me” – is great, as is the temptation to generate dummy sites for the sole purpose to post links and manipulate search results.  And that is exactly the black hat J.C. Penney donned.

In its investigation, the NY Times found that:

Some of the 2,015 pages [with J.C. Penney links] are on sites related, at least nominally, to clothing. But most are not. The phrase “black dresses” and a Penney link were tacked to the bottom of a site called nuclear.engineeringaddict.com. “Evening dresses” appeared on a site called casino-focus.com. “Cocktail dresses” showed up on bulgariapropertyportal.com. ”Casual dresses” was on a site called elistofbanks.com. “Semi-formal dresses” was pasted, rather incongruously, on usclettermen.org.

For a retailer that has struggled to get back in style J.C. Penney not only finds itself painfully out of style, but also left out of Google search results, as the giant is notorious for punishing brands that cross it.

After Google “corrected” for the black hat tactics, J.C. Penney has slipped from the top spot to 60 or 70 in the ranks on many of the searches investigated by the Times.

Questions remain, in terms of brand equity and, perhaps, “information equity.”  How will consumers feel about J.C. Penney for engaging in these tactics? How will consumers feel about the results the next time they Google search?